"We can't get into the minds of criminals. If we could, we wouldn't be standing here now." - Harrisburg City Councilwoman Eugenia Smith

Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson holds a press conference in the atrium at city hall to announce the creation of a Safety Zone in Harrisburg.
Mark Pynes | mpynes@pennlive.com Follow @MarkPynes

Harrisburg cops, social workers, elected officials, code enforcement officers and others are teaming up to cut violent crime through a new program announced Wednesday.

In the works for six months, the Neighborhood Safe Zone Project's initiatives are, mostly, already ongoing in the city. But the program aims to coordinate those activities and execute them in a targeted, formulaic way for maximum impact in the city's most violent areas.

It works like this: police crack down on crime in a four-block target area. Once they feel the neighborhood is secure, social outreach teams canvass the area to

connect residents with whatever services they might need - that addresses some of the economic, health and other factors that contribute to violence. Blight eradication and street clean-up come next, followed by data collection to determine whether efforts are producing the desired result: to reduce violence.

The city's violent crime rate was 14 incidents per 1,000 people, or more than triple the 3.9 per 1,000 rate nationwide, in 2011, the most recent statistics available from the FBI.

Earlier this month, three shootings occurred within just one week.

"We can't get into the minds of criminals. If we could, we wouldn't be standing here now," City Councilwoman Eugenia Smith said. "So I'm asking the community to engage with us as we move through this initiative. We have to take pride in our city, ... and work together as a community."

Smith, who heads the city's Public Safety Committee, spoke during a press conference at City Hall where she, Mayor Linda Thompson and others unveiled the seven-part NSZ project Wednesday.

It's based on similar programs piloted in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. that cut crime as much as 86 percent – but tailored to work in Harrisburg, said Thompson, who expects to release further details in a week or two.

Intended to ultimately expand citywide, NSZ activity will focus on one four-block section at a time.

Uptown and South Allison Hill are home to the first target areas, Thompson said.

"Not everyone is Al Capone," Wealand said. "We'll be enforcing littering, loitering, things like that, and build from there. If all we have to deal with is small stuff, then OK."

Wealand said he's seen evidence in Harrisburg that police scrutiny can produce lasting improvements, pointing to the relative quiet on Curtin Street during the six months since a three-day shutdown there last August in the wake of a spate of shootings. Since then, Wealand's street crimes unit – in partnership with other officers from the Harrisburg force and outside law enforcement agencies – has taken about 60 guns off the street. That's more than double the 25 or so typical of a half-year stretch in that area, he said.

The goal of using the barricades is to confuse or inconvenience criminals – and therefore impede and discourage crimes – by changing traffic patterns, Thompson said.

NSZ's policing phases won't mirror last summer's shut down, however. Police won't require ID to pass barricades, Wealand said, and their crackdown on crimes will go for an unspecified duration, but likely longer than three days.

The biggest difference, however, is what's planned for NSZ target areas after they're considered secure.

In addition to police-sponsored community events intended to familiarize officers and residents with one another, social outreach teams will canvass neighborhoods to figure out what residents might need and connect them with available services.

The point is to address the lack of economic, educational, housing and healthcare options often underlying crimes. Environmental factors play a role, too, though, so another step NSZ program calls for cleaning up neighborhoods by dealing with an estimated 8,000 vacant or blighted buildings citywide.

Getting rid of trash and graffiti is another key part of the program. Recent complaints about those issues prompted Councilwoman Sandra Reid is hosting a town hall meeting on the subject 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Camp Curtin YMCA, 2135 N 6th St.

As part of the program, the city also will hire a community policing coordinator to interface with residents.

Left vacant for the last few years due to the city's precarious financial situation, the position pays a $50,000 salary, Thompson said.

The program doesn't directly call for other cash investments.

But its effectiveness will be greatly increased by other hires – such as two code enforcement and 15 police officers – already in the works for this year.

Same goes for surveillance camera installation expected in city hot spots by the end of 2013 – yet another year later than last estimated over the summer – through a $200,000 Local Gaming Share grant.

The city and many of its NSZ partners also are applying for $1 million Edward J. Byrne Justice Assistance Grant through the federal Department of Justice.

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